Government claims eInvoicing progressing

Friday, June 8, 2018 - 11:54

The Australian government says it will work to progressively adopt electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) across all levels of government. Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, the Hon Kelly O'Dwyer MP, said embracing eInvoicing is a win-win situation, which will both improve government processes and help businesses.

"eInvoicing is approximately 70 per cent cheaper to process than traditional paper or PDF invoices, according to estimates by Deloitte Access Economics. And it means businesses will be able to spend less time re-entering invoice data for all levels of government and spend more time on growing their business," Minister O'Dwyer said.

The Government recently completed an implementation study into the benefits for the economy from the Australian Government adopting eInvoicing and made three recommendations:

encourage government agencies to adopt eInvoicing at a time that aligns with their business plans and needs;

work with the Government's Shared and Common Services program to implement eInvoicing where possible.

The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation, the Hon Michael Keenan MP, said eInvoicing aligns with the Government's broader ambitions to deliver faster and easier to use digital services to all Australians.

"If standards for eInvoicing are widely adopted, it will not only be easier for industry to do business with government and other industries, but also cheaper for all parties involved in a transaction," said Minister Keenan.

Deloitte Access Economics estimates that eInvoicing could result in economy-wide benefits of up to $28 billion over ten years.

In March this year Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and the Jacinda Ardern agreed for Australia and New Zealand to take practical action around common approaches to eInvoicing.

As a result, the Government has established a Trans-Tasman working group to support industry to standardise eInvoicing processes in Australia and New Zealand, and take advantage of opportunities arising from the digital transformation of our economy.

The working group includes members from the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Department of Jobs and Small Business, the Digital Transformation Agency, the Treasury, and the New Zealand Government. Representatives from state and territory governments will also be invited to participate.

The working group will consider the most appropriate ways to support industry to maintain the standards in the DBC framework, and how to accredit participants in the eInvoicing network. The Government will continue to work closely with industry on the implementation of eInvoicing.